Requirement for a search warrant applies only to federal agencies and not, as some privacy advocates had hoped, to state and local law enforcement whose use of the equipment has stirred particular concern and scrutiny from local judges. "New Yorkers have very real concerns about the NYPD's adoption of intrusive surveillance technology," said NYCLU's Mariko Hirose. "The NYPD should at minimum obtain warrants before using Stingrays to protect the privacy of innocent people."   read more

The price tag on the cleanup exceeded $540 million last year. It will cost an estimated $64 million and take at least four more years for the EPA to finish its work, according to documents released Monday. Even after that's done, hazardous asbestos will remain beneath the soil and in the walls of many houses, where it was used for insulation. Health workers have estimated that as many as 400 people have died and almost 3,000 have been sickened from exposure in Libby and the surrounding area.   read more

Lawmakers and police are pushing bills to enable unscrambling of data to obtain critical evidence in human trafficking, terrorism and child pornography cases. The bills seek to loosen the powerful encryption tools cell phone firms have installed to protect a phone user's privacy from hacking. Supporters argue police need access to data that can help them solve criminal cases, while technology and privacy groups are concerned the legislation would put a user's personal information at risk.   read more

Georgia is the only state that allows the officer's unchallenged statement at the end of a grand jury session,. In some other states, a prosecutor can call the officer as a witness, but the officer is subject to questions and can't listen to the other testimony. The law has drawn criticism, especially as police use of force cases face increasing scrutiny nationwide. Critics argue the law gives an officer an unfair advantage and makes it extremely difficult to indict an officer.   read more

The Quicken Loans ad asks what would happen if the Internet “did for mortgages what the Internet did for buying music, plane tickets and shoes,” then showing a woman getting a home mortgage with the press of a button on her phone. If taken too literally, this could get people in trouble. A home mortgage is the biggest financial obligation most people will take on. If you buy the wrong music, plane ticket or shoes, it’s probably not a crippling financial burden, where the wrong mortgage can be.   read more

Philip Morris and other cigarette makers will soon be required to make public statements about the health effects of smoking, after a federal judge called the companies' rewrite request "ridiculous - a waste of precious time, energy, and money for all concerned - and a loss of information for the public." Judge Kessler rejected the cigarette makers' proposals, including the tobacco companies' desire to completely remove their names from the statements.   read more

Some technology specialists and privacy advocates have said the government agency responsible for building and exploiting flaws in computer software for spying purposes should not be the same one entrusted to warn companies about detected software weaknesses. The presidential panel cited concerns about “potential conflicts of interest” between the NSA’s offensive and defensive objectives, in addition to the need to restore confidence with the U.S. technology industry.   read more

“While the last budget of an outgoing president is usually aspirational, and sets a theme for what he or she hopes will be followed up by his or her successor, it nonetheless should be reviewed by the Congress,” said Republican G. William Hoagland, former Senate Budget Committee staff director. “I believe that permitting the administration the courtesy of explaining its intent and what it thinks of the policy should have been maintained,” added Republican economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin.   read more

Environmentalists complained that ICAO has been working on international standards for 18 years and is now proposing to give aircraft manufacturers another dozen years to comply. "These dangerously weak recommendations put the Obama administration under enormous pressure" to take greater action, said Vera Pardee, an attorney who has sued the U.S. government over aviation emissions. Aviation accounts for about 5% of global greenhouse emissions, according to environmentalists.   read more

The registration was conditional, to be canceled if additional studies found the chemical to be damaging, said the EPA. The agency concluded that "continued use of the product will result in unreasonable adverse effects on the environment." The chemical is used to control yield-damaging moths and worms in more than 200 crops including almonds, oranges and soybeans. Bayer's own tests have found that the pesticide is toxic in high doses to invertebrates in river and pond sediment.   read more

Using executive power in a state where legislative bids to ban the therapy have stalled, Cuomo announced planned regulations that would bar insurance coverage for the therapy for minors and prohibit mental health facilities under state Office of Mental Health jurisdiction from offering it to minors. "Conversion therapy is a hateful and fundamentally flawed practice" that punishes people "for simply being who they are," Cuomo said in a statement.   read more

Joseph De Lopez, a former Chicago Police deputy superintendent hired to review policies of the Colorado City Marshal's Office, told the jury the towns' Marshal Office did not investigate reports that town members married underage girls. "Not only should there be an Internal Affairs investigation if it involves an officer, but a criminal investigation," De Lopez testified. The towns' former Chief Marshal Helaman Barlow testified that the Marshal's Office ignored claims of underage marriages.   read more

House Bill 2975 would create penalties for public officials who block people from owning or buying guns. The four-page bill devotes a page to quotes on gun ownership purportedly from the men who created the U.S. Constitution. Researchers say at least three of the quotes used in the bill and attributed to Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton were not said or written by them.   read more

New Jersey is joining the states of Texas, New Mexico and West Virginia and Harris County, Texas, in suing Volkswagen. The U.S. Justice Department filed its own lawsuit accusing VW of violating clean air laws and seeking up to $46 billion on Jan. 4. VW faces more than 500 civil lawsuits that have been consolidated before a federal judge in California, who has retained a former FBI director as a settlement adviser. The automaker also faces investigations by 48 U.S. state attorneys.   read more

Robert M. Gates, then defense secretary, appealed to President Obama to reconsider the release of the photographs, warning that it could provoke attacks against U.S. troops in the war zones. Obama changed his mind and obtained legislation from Congress permitting the defense secretary to exempt the photos from disclosure. Current Pentagon chief Ash Carter extended it again in November, but decided that the 198 photos could be made public.   read more

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, offered his support for the crosses in a legal brief, filed in response to a sheriff's office that received a complaint about images of a Christian cross displayed on its patrol vehicles. "In addition to its religious significance, the cross has a long history in America and elsewhere as a symbol of service and sacrifice," Abbott wrote. His office wouldn't say if he also supported the display of other religious symbols on patrol cars.   read more